Church History: Modern and Contemporary
This guide will help you with your Church History research.
Available in the Library
These books, plus many more, can all be found in the Reference section of our library. Search the Library Online Catalog to find additional resources.
The World of Catholic Renewal, 1540-1770 by R. Po-chia Hsia
Call Number:
BX 1304 .H75 2005
Salvation in Full Color: Twenty Sermons by Great Awakening Preachers by Richard O. Roberts
Call Number:
BT 753 .S25 1994
Christian Missions and the Enlightenment by Brian Stanley
Call Number:
BV 2420 .C47 2001
The Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity by Mark A. Noll
Call Number:
BR 515 .N744 2002
Mighty Like a River: The Black Church and Social Reform by Andrew Billingsley
Call Number:
BR 563 .N4 B534 2003
Books on Modern and Contemporary Christianity
Here is a list of recommended books on Modern and Contemporary Christianity:
Sermons from John Calvin
Reformation and Counter-Reformation
- The Morgan Gutenberg Bible OnlineThis presentation features digital, full-text images of the Gutenberg Old Testament along with commentary on its history and significance.
- Project WittenbergProject Wittenberg is home to works by and about Martin Luther and other Lutherans. Here you will find all manner of texts from short quotations to commentaries, hymns to statements of faith, theological treatises to biographies, and links to other places where words and images from the history of Lutheranism live.
- The Trial of Martin LutherThis website from the University of Missouri School of Law has a chronology, primary documents, and much more on Martin Luther’s 1521 trial.
- Center for Reformation and Renaissance StudiesHosted by the University of Toronto, the CRRC is a research center with a library devoted to the study of the period from approximately 1350 to 1700. Its web site contains links to sites useful for researchers working in the Renaissance and the Reformation and more.
- The Trial of Sir Thomas MoreThis site from the University of Missouri School of Law has a collection of images, primary documents, trial reports, maps, and other materials relating to More’s 1535 trial and execution.
- The Council of TrentThis website has the full-text of the twenty-five sessions of the Council of Trent, as transcribed by the Hanover Historical Texts Project.
- Christian History: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the King James BibleThis site is the full text of the entire magazine issue that focuses exclusively on the history of the King James Bible.
- Post-Reformation Digital LibraryThis website from Calvin Theological Seminary is a select bibliography of digital books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.). Late medieval and patristic works printed and referenced in the early modern era are also included.
Revivalism and Missions
- The Journal of John WesleySpanning some fifty-five years, John Wesley’s voluminous Journal records the daily tribulations experienced in traveling the length and breadth of the British Isles in the 18th century. This site provides full-text content.
- The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale UniversityThis site is a digital learning environment for research, education and publication, that presents all of Edwards’s writings, along with editorial materials that allow the reader to examine Edwards’ thought.
- Selected Sermons of George WhitefieldThis website has over 50 sermons from George Whitefield, and Anglican minister who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain and North America, and who became the founder of Methodism and one of the main figures of the evangelical movement.
- History of MissionsThe History of Missions on the SRC’s Intercultural Ministries LibGuide includes many resources on missions history, missionary biographies, the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh.
American Religious History Resources
- Divining America: Religion in American HistoryThis site has links to essays by leading scholars on religion in American History, from the 17th through the 20th centuries, on almost every topic.
- The Church in the Southern Black Community, 1780-1925This site, by the University of NC and the Library of Congress, traces how Southern African Americans experienced and transformed Protestant Christianity into the central institution of community life. It focuses on how the black community adapted evangelical Christianity, making it a metaphor for freedom, community, and personal survival.
- Billy Sunday: Athlete and EvangelistThis website from the Library of Congress includes a timeline of Billy SUnday’s life, as well as contemporary newspaper articles about him.
- Scopes TrialThis site from the University of Missouri School of Law has a collection of images, biographies, accounts, and more from the 1925 case about teaching evolution in schools.
The Modern Church
- Documents of the II Vatican CouncilFrom the Vatican Archives, here is the full-text of the documents of the Vatican II Council.
- Catholic Worker MovementThis website of the Catholic Worker Movement includes links and historical information for this organization.
- Divining America: Religion in American History – The Twentieth-CenturyThis site has links to essays by leading scholars on religion in 20th Century American History, on topics such as the rise of fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and religion in post-WWII America.